Shutter Sisters

landscape envy

By

This is the optical illusion of space. This is me belly down in the wet grass. The fog and rain hugging me as I search for what feels like home. I walked away from here muddy-kneed and happy.

When I was twenty I packed up my belongings and moved myself across the country. A part of me has felt landlocked ever since. A part of me wonders if I will ever be happy until I live once again where the sand meets the sea.

On days when I miss the seagulls cry, when I miss the salty air … I do my best to recreate what it is I’m looking for.

This is that illusion. This equals staring off into a vast open space, the facade of solitude and quiet. This is where I go to find myself, ground myself, feel connected again and again.

Today, please share with us some of your surroundings, your landscape, what you see, and where you go. Today for a moment, let us live vicariously through each other’s landscapes.

Comments

  4. First, your photography and writing are beautiful, and they complement each other very well. Second, I am truly glad you featured my image on your post, as it open the door to your flickr pool of beauty and to this website, which I was not aware of. THANK YOU!

  6. I have that same fear, of now living far from the sea and never having done so before. Water is essential to existence, but looking at this photograph that is so full…you’re almost there again. Very well done.

  10. I don’t have much landscape around here, really. All buildings and asphalt. I don’t like that very much. Until I see them under a different eye.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3903201401/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3253871866/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3946036753/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/4061691853/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2913415717/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2913417679/
    And of course, this is the landscape that I want to see everyday.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/4189471034/

  17. I understand completely. When I was 23 I moved from the midwest to Arizona. The desert has been a new and exciting experience for me, and I love the wide open spaces and grand mountains. But there is a piece of me that will always long for large bodies of water and the comforting embrace of tall trees.

    This is what I love about Arizona: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmus122/4205418636/

    This is where my heart will always feel comforted: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmus122/3630378158/in/set-72157619791187586/

  24. I understand. I tried one summer in my midwestern college town to see if I could hack it, and I couldn’t. I needed to be able to get to the ocean – even if I didn’t go that often. It was a mental, not a physical thing.

    I grew up on the East Coast just a few hours North of where I live now, and it’s amazing how this slight change in latitude can change the view. The winter sky is different here, just a little warmer, which makes February go down much easier.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22487105@N06/4288152935/?edited=1

  26. I’m so glad I found shuttersisters!
    I’m trying to embrace the beauty of the winter season, but I long for spring! It has been slightly warmer here in Wisconsin and we have been greeted by hoar frost for the last few mornings. It has been magical!

  27. I am land-locked again living where the prairie and mountains meet. For the two years that we lived in Vermont there was the knowledge that we could be at the ocean when we pleased, but we only went three times. So in Vermont we suffered from lack of horizons. It is beautiful full of rolling green and tight forests but no matter where you stand the earth rises up in front of you. I never truly understood the "big sky" concept until I left Colorado. Now that I have returned everyday I am aware of the space above and how the sky has it’s own presence.

    Winter
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/8380970@N03/4289318684/

    Summer
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/8380970@N03/3834421393/

  37. Your photo is beautiful! The browns of the landscape remind me of sand and make me wonder, if you could just walk far enough, would there be water to swim in?

    Here is my landscape these days:

    http://bit.ly/64wUrU

    Blessings!
    Deborah